


Missing

by MoonlitRamblings



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, Time Shenanigans, Time Travel, but vague about how that went down, no beards, playing fast and loose with canon, technically takes place after dark one arc resolved
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-18
Updated: 2020-09-18
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:35:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26217244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MoonlitRamblings/pseuds/MoonlitRamblings
Summary: When Regina vanishes without a trace for over 24 hours, Emma decides to try a spell to summon her but it goes wrong--given her life, Emma really should have expected that. She gets a Regina--specifically Regina from the missing year, when Emma and Henry were in NYC with the memories she gave them. Will past Regina let important secrets slip? Will Emma? And where is present-day Regina?Post Dark Swan arc, but playing fast and loose with canon.
Relationships: Evil Queen | Regina Mills/Emma Swan
Comments: 14
Kudos: 180
Collections: Swan Queen Supernova V: Forever Starstruck





	Missing

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Corasparasol (LastVerse)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LastVerse/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Missing [art]](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26217592) by [Corasparasol (LastVerse)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LastVerse/pseuds/Corasparasol). 



> Always love to participate in the SQSupernova, even with how crazy this summer has been.
> 
> Extra special thanks to my cheerleader, Michele - without her encouragement, I never would have made it!

Emma paced in the Regina’s study at home, running her hands through her hair, both unconscious offloading of her anxiety over the fact that Regina was missing.

24 hours.

It had officially been a full twenty-four hours since she’d last heard from Regina. Since anyone had heard from her or Zelena, which was not comforting in the slightest.

Emma was always a bit nervous, for all she pretended otherwise, when Regina and her long-lost half-sister decided to do magic by themselves. She pretended it was because of the town and how karma seemed to hate them, as if banning magic for so long meant now that it was back, it was bound to go wrong as if it had a personal vendetta against Emma and week without drama.

She also didn’t trust Zelena, for all she seemed to be really trying to get to know Regina and build a real relationship with her. Emma can’t forget that Zelena spent years hating Regina and plotting her revenge. It made Emma twitch whenever they were alone together, for all that Regina’s better at magic than Emma, and better at handling threats against life and better at dealing with sudden family members and basically, yeah, better than Emma at everything in their crazy life.

It didn’t stop the worry; the protective streak Emma couldn’t seem to resist when it came to Regina and Henry. Emma swallowed it down though, because she knew it was irrational, she did. Regina could handle herself.

That was what she had told herself when Regina hadn’t come home last night, even though Emma had stayed up, watching TV in the living room on the main floor instead of the one in Regina’s basement turned Emma’s apartment.

That was what she told herself when she woke up with a stiff neck and a concerned Henry leaning over her and still no Regina.

That’s what she had told Ruby at the diner, Regina’s assistant at Town Hall, and David at the Sheriff’s office, until his concerned eyes had led to her muttering something about going on patrol and she’d grabbed her jacket before fleeing to her car.

Three hours of driving through town, definitely not looking for any sign of her friend, but just happening to choose a route that had particular attention to places Regina happened to frequent. After checking the spot in the forest where Regina had said they were going, finding the air still humming slightly with magic, but otherwise empty, and Zelena’s house, quiet, with wards correctly in place to keep her under house arrest unless with Regina or Emma still in place, that Emma finally admitted aloud, “Shit, this is not good.”

Which was how Emma found herself in Regina’s personal study, with a big magic book open on her desk. Emma was familiar with the study, they had some of their magical lessons here, and occasionally it was their mini-crisis center when there were magical shenanigans to take care of. However, more often since moving in a few months ago, Emma came in to read. These days, Regina was good about knowing what she could tease Emma about and what to leave alone. So she never made any comment about how Emma’s reading material seemed to be more suited to a teenager making up for time without a library card than an adult, while Regina worked.

But being in here without Regina? Made Emma feel very uncomfortable. Like she expected to get in trouble for being somewhere she shouldn’t. Like she was invading Regina’s privacy somehow. Like maybe she was hoping just being here would be enough to summon Regina from wherever she was, if only to scold Emma.

Regina didn’t though. Appear that is, so that meant Emma was going to have to do the summoning herself. Literally in this case, Emma thought as she eyed the spellbook.

Regina had talked to her about summoning spells, although much mostly in terms of objects—not people. Emma actually found them rather helpful, if only because it meant now she didn’t have to worry about where she left her keys. Regina had rolled her eyes and made some snarky comment about Emma being lazy, but Emma could tell she was only giving Emma a hard time for the sake of it.

Summoning a person was a lot more complicated and required a more powerful spell. Emma ran her eyes over the page, hoping she picked the right one. She could understand most spell writing now, more as a left over from when she had Dark One powers, than through Regina’s teaching.

Emma had already tried a locator spell a few minutes ago, which had turned up nothing. That was extra concerning because Emma was good at those—Regina always teased her that it was due to her parents.

God, Regina had only been gone a day—how did Emma miss her so much? She shoved aside the part of her that new exactly why she missed Regina and focused on the spell.

Taking a deep breath and holding her open hands over the page, Emma began to read and traced the symbols on the page with her eyes. They began to glow blue as Emma’s magic gathered itself, as she willed it do what she wanted.

Regina. Regina here. Bring Regina back. Bring Regina home, to her and Henry. Now!

There was a moment of loud silence before a white pulse shot out from her hands, or the book—it was hard to tell—in front of her, throwing Emma back against the wall.

Emma cursed as she brought her hand up to her head, feeling for any physical damage from the way she’d hit it against the wall. Rubbing the warm spot, she refocused as best she could on the center of the room.

“Regina…” Emma managed with a relieved smile, blinking the light after spots from her eyes, but still able to recognize Regina’s figure. It was after another few seconds, as relief coursed through her, that she noticed something was wrong.

Firstly, Regina was dressed in what was obviously a fairytale land outfit. She had on a black shirt with full black lace sleeves, a rich purple leather vest over it with had an almost cape like extension going behind her, falling to her feet. The black pants, with tall black leather boots to complete the outfit, could only mean one thing. Coupled with the cleavage—not quite up to her Evil Cleavage from Emma’s trip to the past, but still noticeably there—this had to be some sort of Enchanted Forest version of Regina.

Second of all, was the expression on Regina’s face. Regina looked truly shocked. She was looking at Emma as if she’d never seen her before, like Emma was a revelation. It was very disconcerting. She’d never seen Regina look this taken off guard. Ever. Not even when Emma had brought Marion back had Regina looked this off her game.

Emma thought it was also the dimension of pain that was also etched into Regina’s expression. Looking at her hurt in a way Emma wasn’t used, or maybe it was the way Regina was looking at Emma as if seeing her hurt Regina that was the problem. Regina looked like she didn’t think she would ever be happy again and that seeing Emma was some sort of bittersweet torture.

Before Emma could even think about what that might mean, Regina spoke, “Emma?” her voice was incredulous, but she clearly knew who Emma was.

Emma let out a sigh of relief, trying to ignore the trepidation that still hummed at the back of her mind from Regina’s facial expression, “Regina, thank god you know who I am. I thought you were like from Ye Old Days or something.” Emma carefully pulled herself to her feet, continuing to rub her head before she cocked it to the side, determined to play this off as if was no big deal.

Maybe her and Zelena had gotten up to some evil costume comparison contest—who knows what they did together? “Why the sudden desire to go all medieval? And where have you been? Henry and I were getting worried—although we know you can take care of yourself and all that.” Emma made a dismissive hand gesture before waiting, hoping Regina would be able to clear this all up in an instant.

Regina blinked, her face clearing slightly, at least of pain, if not confusion, “I…” She couldn’t seem to say more than that though.

Emma deflated, her nonchalant attitude fading. Now she just felt tired as she sighed, “You aren’t my Regina, are you?” Emma already knew the answer, there was something about her, besides the outfit that made Emma sure of it. She frowned though because what wasn’t adding up was… “But if you’re from the past and dressed like that, how do you know who I am?”

“I…” Regina shook her head a bit and seemed to straighten, pulling herself back together and putting on a neutral mask. It gave Emma a pang of sadness, had it always been so obvious to her that Regina wore a mask around almost everyone besides her and Henry? Had it always hurt the few times she did wear it around Emma? “I was in the Enchanted Forest, but it’s after the curse broke. After Neverland, I gave you and Henry good memories to escape Pan’s curse. It’s been ten months since then.”

“Oooh,” Emma said, actually feeling a little better—they weren’t so bad off then. “That would explain it. Well, some of it. Glad you’re not gonna try to kill me then. How did you end up here?”

“I’m not entirely sure,” Regina looked around before taking a breath. She glanced around before continuing, “And I think I need to… to sit down.”

“Right, sure, yeah,” Emma realized that this probably was a Regina who thought she’d never see Henry again. They didn’t spend much time rehashing the past, but Emma knew that Regina had been very lonely that year. She wasn’t incapable of reading between the lines, not to mention how it had been written across Regina’s whole face when Emma had returned to town with a memory-less Henry.

Emma waited until Regina had settled into the wingback chair she seemed to favor, looking strangely out of place in her own study due to her clothes. She was looking at everything as if it would vanish any second. Emma had no idea how to help deal with that so she dove into her own explanation of sorts.

“So here’s the thing, you’re missing. Current you, I mean,” Emma clarified at Regina’s obvious confusion. “I tried to summon that you and I think I pulled you-you here instead. Sorry.”

“You think you summoned me from the past from another realm?” Regina asked, the skepticism and raised brow actually comforting to Emma. It was the most she’d looked like the Regina Emma knew since she’d appeared.

“Yeah, I mean, probably, right?” Emma threw her hands up in exasperation. “You think that I tried to a spell to summon you that didn’t work, but coincidently you also were transported here for completely unrelated, unknown reasons,” Emma replied.

Regina tipped her head in acknowledgment. “When you phrase it that way, it does seem less likely. I assume I’ve been giving you magic lessons of some sort. What did you use for the spell?”

“Yeah.” Emma grabbed the book from where it had fallen on the other side of Regina’s desk and out of view during her casting. She handed it over to the more accomplished sorceress, open to the right page. “I used this spell.”

While Regina read over the spell, Emma found herself trying to explain herself. “Our magic lessons are…irregular. I think it has to do with my True Love whatever-ness. And then being the Dark One did something to my magic too. And then being cured being of the Dark One.”

Regina froze at some point and now was looking at Emma with her mouth actually somewhat open in shock. Maybe Emma shouldn’t be telling this past Regina any of this. Right, wasn’t that some sort of time travel rule? “It’s all been very crazy and I think it put my magic through the wringer and made it weird. So mostly we cover broad concepts and I still do a lot by ‘brute force’.” Emma shrugged, “I’m fine with leaving the complex stuff to you.”

“…Right,” Regina said once she managed to close her mouth. She looked back down at the book in her lap and muttered under her breath, “Of course, why would things have possibly gotten simpler in the future?”

“I know, right? We’re at kinda of a good place now actually, minor things come up, but no Big Bads recently,” Emma said, knocking absently on Regina’s desk. “Except for the whole ‘you being missing’ crisis of the moment.”

“Yes, tell me more about that,” Regina commanded. “What do you know about what happened to me?”

“Well, I saw you after lunch yesterday, which was Sunday. You and …. Oh, um.” Emma realized Regina would be coming from a time in their lives where Zelena was still trying to kill everyone or take over Regina’s life or whatever her evil scheme had been back then and that Regina might not take current events well.

“What is it, Miss Swan?” Regina asked, folding her arms. “Spit it out.”

Emma laughed at that, “Geez, flashbacks. Um, right, I don’t know what you know, but um, Zelena? She’s your half-sister. And I guess despite initially wanting to destroy you or whatever because of her Mommy issues, now she’s sort of just under house arrest and you’re trying to like, befriend her? You talk magic and stuff, I think.”

“Really,” Regina said flatly. Then she shook her head in disgust and threw her hands up in the air. “Sure, why not? So yesterday afternoon I went off for some magical sister time with the Wicked Witch and haven’t been home since. Is that it?”

“Yup,” Emma said nodding, not wanting to piss off this past version of Regina who maybe hadn’t completely moved on from actually wanting to occasionally set Emma on fire.

“And you don’t think that maybe said Wicked Witch has something to do with my disappearance?” Regina asked, voice heavy with sarcasm.

“Of course, I thought about that,” Emma snapped back, her worry and Regina’s blast from the past attitude causing her to react more the way she used to. Only it was fleeting and Emma just took a deep breath before continuing in a more normal tone of voice with only a slight strain at the edges, “However, while I don’t trust her, but I trust you and your assessment of her. It’s been months since she tried anything, unless you count that time she turned your hair green.

“Besides, I checked her house and she wasn’t there. All the wards and things were fine. She’s missing too, so I’m pretty sure you guys are together, but I have no idea if she like kidnapped you or if you’re both just missing together.”

“And I’m assuming you’ve looked elsewhere for me since then?” Regina asked, hoping her incredulity came across as not expecting Emma to have been thorough and not from the fact that she was still trying to wrap her mind around the idea that Emma cared so much about her that she was looking this hard for her.

Emma rolled her eyes, “Yeah, duh. I’ve been all over town. I even tried a locating spell since I’m pretty good at those, but it didn’t work, just pfft—nothing. So I decided to come home and grab your main magical book and see if I could find something else helpful.”

Regina hmphed as she thought over what Emma had said. It was surprising that a locating spell hadn’t gotten _any_ results. It either should lead to the person it was targeted at or to where they had vanished from, not just not work. Regardless of whatever had happened with Emma’s magic, Regina could still feel it just fine and the blonde was certainly still strong enough.

Her eyes darted back down to the page and she said to herself, “Even if you’re looking for me, I’m surprised you’d break into my house while I’m not here. ” _Or maybe I’m not_ , Regina thought to herself, Emma was always foolhardy. “I’m fairly certain I would have warned you at some point not to touch my things. Or do you have a key?”

“It’s um, my house too now?” Emma replied, but it sounded more like a question than anything.

Regina looked up and blinked at the self-conscious woman in front of her. “It’s what?”

“We live together now,” Emma explained, face pinking slightly. “I moved in a few months ago. We thought it was best what with…everything.” Emma made a vague, all-encompassing gesture and then explained anyway. “We thought it wasn’t fair for Henry to always be going between our houses and everyone’s always in danger so it seemed safer and, you know, we got along so much better after… and yeah. So I moved in.”

“Right…” Regina replied, a rapid succession of facial expressions as she tried to process this news flew across her face before she settled on a strange look on her face, more…tender than before. Her eyes were very intent on Emma’s, as if trying to see find something she’d missed before. But it was the smile that really unsettled Emma. it reminded Emma of her Henry smile and she had no idea what had prompted its appearance.

“So yeah, what do you think we should do next?” Emma asked, glad to finally have her partner in magic crime back, sort of. She was normally more than happy to provide a sounding board for Regina and run interference for people distracting the former queen as she figured out what was happening—and help lend her strength, magical or otherwise, against whatever they needed to fight.

“Well, the first thing I’m doing is changing out of this outfit,” Regina said gesturing at her clothes and inadvertently drawing Emma’s attention to the cleavage she’s been trying real hard to be respectful of. Not that modern Regina with her straining buttons and lacy camisoles lacked showing off in that department when the mood struck her, but there was a lack of leather that Emma hadn’t realized was a blessing in disguise when it came to keeping her attention not on Regina’s… assets.

As Regina stood up, she continued talking, “Who else might have tried to get rid of me? Beyond, generally speaking, everyone.”

“Things are better these days,” Emma protested as she followed Regina’s confident strides. “After your time in the Enchanted Forest—despite some memory misunderstandings at first—only the people who wanted to come back to Storybrooke did and they all were more appreciative of modern life, you know? Plus when Zelena was still evil—or “wicked” or whatever trademark catchphrase you guys were arguing about—you helped protect Snow and the baby from her and that got you a lot of points with the town.”

“Let’s see though, Mr. Gold doesn’t have magic anymore since there is no more Dark One after I became the Dark One and then you and my parents helped cure me of that. Zelena, like I said, seems more or less not after you these days. Maleficent is out of town this month with her daughter for Mother-Daughter Dragon bonding time and you guys are cool these days. Blue got banished so she’s not around. Most of the strong magic people aren’t around or bad anymore. We mostly get random townspeople being petty with magic more than anything these days.”

“How did you become the Dark One?” Regina couldn’t help but ask because she still could not follow that particular plot twist.

“Well the darkness or whatever, like came out of the dagger when Gold was purified of it and became a swirling tornado of black evil and you were gonna jump into it to save everyone so I did it instead. It’s kinda a long story.”

“I see.” As they reached the stairs, Regina realized she needed to stop asking questions before her head imploded. Because Emma caring about her enough to launch herself into a vortex of evil was not something she ever thought would happen. “Why don’t you wait in the kitchen? I’ll be down shortly.”

“Right, sure. I’ll make coffee?” Emma offered, because she had not slept well last night and the more she looked at Regina and thought about where the woman was probably at, mentally speaking, with the whole, thinking she’d never see Henry again and the magical realm transportation time travel, she could probably use some caffeine too.

“That would actually be great,” Regina admitted. “It’s not the same in the Enchanted Forest.”

“I bet,” Emma said emphatically, she never understood how anyone could want to live in a castle in the forest without indoor plumbing or electricity or Netflix. “See you in a few.”

-x-x-x-

Emma looked up when Regina entered the kitchen in a marron blouse and black skirt, looking more like herself, even with her longer hair still in its partial up-do. Emma handed her a coffee mug as she took a drink of her own.

Regina closed her eyes at the smell, it had been too long since she’d had a real cup of coffee. She took a sip and pleased to note that it had the right amount of milk and sugar. She smiled softly at Emma, “Thank you, this is perfect.”

“Sure,” Emma replied with an easy smile.

The combination of Emma’s smile and the coffee made Regina blurt out, “Where are all of your things?”

“What?” Emma frowned in confusion.

“I’m aware that I don’t much like sharing space,” Regina said, working up the nerve to confront what it was clear Emma had been talking around, probably out of worry about telling Regina too much about the future. “But surely I’ve allowed you somewhere to put your own clothes and such.”

“What are you talking about?” Emma asked, staring at Regina as if she was continuing a conversation Emma didn’t remember having.

“If we’re living together, then why does my bedroom look much the same as it always did?” Regina asked, looking at her pointedly.

“What! We’re not—!” Emma blushed, waving her hands in front of herself. She had no idea where past Regina had gotten that idea from and she had no idea why Regina wasn’t trying to kill Emma over it, but she wanted to make it very clear what was actually going on. God, had Regina been thinking this the whole time? Had Regina been thinking this was all some elaborate lie until now? No wonder she was acting so weird. “When I said living together, I meant you and I magically re-did your basement into an apartment for me. Not that we were like, _together_ -together.”

“Oh,” Regina’s face froze. “I see.”

Emma frowned, or maybe she’d read that wrong. Maybe Regina didn’t think them being together was a crazy idea. Emma pushed that thought aside because that was even more unbelievable, of course Regina did. “You’re not even… I mean, you like men. You don’t—"

“Who told you that?” Regina scoffed, trying to push past her embarrassment at Emma’s incredulity that they could be in a relationship. “I thought you said Mal was around again.”

“I did….” Emma said slowly, not following this topic change. “What does that…?”

“Well then, don’t you know that we used to sleep together?” Regina replied, lifting a brow.

“What?!” Emma’s eyes practically doubled in size as she tried to process that. “ _Oh_. Wow, that does make a lot of sense.”

“Regardless, forgive my misunderstanding. It makes sense to raise Henry together after everything,” Regina said, before switching the subject. The last few minutes had been a rather strong reality check and she was suddenly very aware that Henry was here, in town and so was she. “Speaking of our son, would I… Can I… Can I see him?” Regina looked so hopeful, not like she was asking Emma, but the universe. The idea that she could really have her son back almost painful in its seeming impossibility. “I don’t want to confuse him since his current mother is missing and I… Just for a few minutes. I know I’ll forget once I go back, but still…”

“You’ll forget?” Emma asked, successfully distracted. Why was Regina always just saying things like it was common knowledge? It was one of the most frustrating things she did.

“Of course,” Regina replied. “That’s how time travel into the future works. You forget once you return to your own time, until the events from the future are in the past once more. So that your knowledge of the future doesn’t change the timeline and cause a recursive loop effecting from the temporal displacement.”

“Okay. But…” Emma bit her lip. “Here’s the thing, I remember when we first came back. Henry didn’t have his memories back at first and I know that was very hard on you. Won’t it be just as hard to see him again and know you have to leave? To let him go again?”

“He didn’t rem…” Regina swallowed as she thought about seeing Henry, but him having no idea she was his mother. The pain that shot through her at that idea was excruciating. She took a deep breath, forcing herself to refocus. “But I know its not permanent. I know I’ll see him again, have him back in just a few months. I can do that, I let him go before. I’d wait years to reunite with him. But he’s so close, right now. I can’t just let this opportunity pass by.”

Emma’s face was serious as she thought it through, thought about how hard it must currently be for Regina—and how likely Regina was to listen to her anyways. It wasn’t a hard decision.

“Okay, I’ll call him and explain,” Emma said, pulling out her phone. “He was gonna go straight to my mom’s house after school to help take care of the baby, but he can make a detour. It might do him some good to know that you’re helping to find you.” Her face screwed up a little as she thought through what she just said, “God, why is this my life?”

Emma shook her head, before heading to the living room for some privacy to explain to Henry what was going on.

Regina wanted both to demand that she transport herself to his side and also hold back because it was all she’d wanted these last few months, but she was going to forget. And it wasn’t even her Henry. She eyed the calendar on the wall and realized that this was at least two years later than when she though it would be. She supposed all the things Emma kept badly explaining would make slightly more sense to have happened over a couple years.

Regina’s eye landed on the spellbook Emma had brought with her and sat down in a high-top chair to better study it. In the study, she was still sort of dazed, half-believing this was all a dream, but her mind seemed to have finally caught up with her. She needed to be the one to figure this out because Emma was right—this was no ordinary magic and complex enough even Regina was having trouble figuring out where to start. For all she likes to give Emma a hard time about putting in the work, Emma did seem to have covered the straightforward causes of her disappearance this time around.

Regina had enveloped the book in her magic and was reaching out to try to find her future self when Emma came back into the room. She opened her eyes as Emma leaned back against the counter opposite her.

“Henry’ll be by in twenty minutes or so,” Emma said, cutting to the point. “He’s worried current you is still missing, but he’s glad you’re here to help. You’d think all I knew about magic was pulling rabbits out of hats.”

Regina smirked, “Henry just knows which one of us is the professional.”

Emma rolled her eyes, “Okay then “professional”, find out anything useful?”

Regina frowned, looking back at the book contemplatively. “Define useful. From what I can tell, you did the spell correctly, if with too much power. When it couldn’t find me in this time, there was enough strength to pull a me.”

“But why?” Emma demanded. “Where is current you?”

Regina sighed, “It’s hard to tell exactly, but it seems as though the present version of myself is currently out of time. As in, is likely performing some sort of localized time spell herself. Or Zelena is. You cannot summon someone who is engaged in such spellwork, it’s a fail safe to prevent multiple instances of the same person—magic doesn’t like that sort of thing.”

“Okay… I guess you might have said something about not looking forward to a trip down memory lane with Zelena, but I thought that was just because Zelena likes to make jokes about throwing you into the clocktower or brings up your mom.”

“And I’m trying to build a relationship with her?” Regina asked, wrinkling her nose in distaste.

Emma shrugged helplessly, “I don’t know, I mean, she is one of your only remaining family members.”

“I suppose…” Regina replied skeptically.

“Okay, so let’s say that’s what happened.” Emma threw her hands up in exasperation. “That my Regina is off doing time magic with Zelena, hell, maybe that’s even why she’s gone so long—time got all weird. What that doesn’t explain is why my summoning spell pulled you-you? Why not a more recent version of yourself? Or an older one?”

“I believe there were a few factors that lead to my being chosen. Firstly, I was at the Falls, which is a known magical weakpoint between realms,” Regina said. “I’ve been doing research in crossing realms, to get back to Henry, but it hasn’t exactly been promising.”

Emma could read well enough between the lines and Regina’s stoic facial expression to mean she was hitting dead end after dead end. She sent Regina a sympathetic smile and Regina shook herself a little, “So I was in magically resonate place and trying to get to this realm—both of which made me more of a target, I suppose, for the spell to choose. I recognized your magic, although I was surprised to sense it, and let myself be taken by the spell.”

“So what do we do next?” Emma asked. “If a summoning spell or a locating spell can’t find the missing Regina because she’s outside of time, what can we do to make sure she’s not in trouble?”

“We should still be able to run a spell to see the Regina who belongs in this time and ensure she’s alright. Then all that’s left to do is wait for her spell to end.”

Emma groaned. “I hate just sitting around waiting.”

“I’m well aware,” Regina said with a smirk.

Emma rolled her eyes, “Oh, don’t act like you’re just filled with patience.”

“Just follow me to the mirror,” Regina replied, heading for the front hall.

“What is with you and mirrors?” Emma muttered under her breath as she followed the other woman.

Regina sent her a sharp look before she enveloped the mirror’s surface in purple fog. “Mirror mirror on the wall, show the me that is enthralled.”

“Did that really count?” Emma asked, unable to avoid teasing Regina about the bad rhyme.

Regina rolled her eyes, “Its good enough. Surely I’ve taught you the words are just to help speed up the spell. Especially if you’re not going to contribute.

“Yeah, yeah.” Emma’s hand automatically landed on Regina’s upper arm and she channeled some of her own magic into the spell, wincing when she realized just how little she had left after the summoning spell. “I still say you just think it sounds more dramatic,” Emma teased.

“Quiet,” Regina admonished as the fog began to clear. Slowly a picture formed, it showed the Regina Emma had last seen. Still in the same red dress, she was standing opposite from Zelena, both of them channeling magic into an orb hovering in front of them. They seemed fixated on the orb, which was flashing strangely, but not entranced or in danger from it.

“I see Zelena is capable of not being green,” Regina observed dryly. “And she’s stopped borrowing my clothes without asking.”

“You both look fine,” Emma said, breathing out a sigh of relief. “It looks like you’re where I thought you were even though you weren’t there when I looked a few hours ago.”

“Ye, it appears to be some sort of memory spell,” Regina observed, wondering why on earth she would want to share memories with her incredibly arrogant and misguide sister, but she supposed the best way to make sure the other woman wasn’t jealous of her relationship with her mother was to show it to.

“Okay, she seems fine,” Emma agreed reluctantly. She just knew she wouldn’t feel settled again until Regina was back home where she belonged, where Emma was. “What now?”

“You can do as you wish,” Regina said with a purposely casual shrug as she let the spell drop. “I’m going to make dinner.”

Emma blinked at her, “Dinner?”

“I haven’t had my own lasagna in months and I’m going to enjoy using an oven instead of a fireplace or magic while we wait for Henry.” The sound of Regina’s shoes, which Emma realized were still her fantasy leather boots, echoed through the entry way. Emma only waited a moment before she followed her.

It wasn’t as though Emma had any better ideas.

-x-x-x-

Emma and Regina were both in the kitchen when they heard the front door open and Regina froze, her hand clutching at the back of a chair, knuckles white.

“Mom?” Henry called as he came in, toeing off his shoes.

“Let me go get him,” Emma said awkwardly, scooting from the room. Perhaps she should be glad that Regina hadn’t broken anything this time around, hearing her son’s voice for the first time in months.

Emma met Henry at the door and his worry over the situation was obvious. “You still haven’t found her?”

“No, but past-her helped cast a spell to let us see her and your aunt,” Emma was quick to reassure him. “They’re fine even if we can’t find them. She says we just have to wait for the magic spell they’re casting to be over. It sounds like it was accident that it’s taking so long.”

Henry frowned and Emma squeezed his shoulder in sympathy, neither of them liked to just wait and see—it wasn’t even a debate where he got that from because the answer was clearly both his mothers. “I don’t like that Mom’s been gone for so long, but I also can’t believe Mom from two years ago is here. This is so weird.”

“So business as usual?” Emma said, with a casual grin on her face, inviting him to share in the joke and try to lighten the mood. She slung her arm more firmly around his shoulder as they walked towards the kitchen

Henry rolled his eyes, but a small smile still crossed his face. “Right.”

“Henry!” Regina’s eyes widened when she saw Henry in the doorway. “You’ve gotten so tall.”

Henry resisted the urge to roll his eyes, should he have gotten shorter, as he tried to notice the subtle differences between this version of his mom and the current one. She looked sadder, like she thought this was dream and she didn’t want to wake up. It sort of was. “Hi, mom.”

“Oh, Henry,” Regina crossed the room in a flash and pulled him into a hug. He returned just as fiercely, realizing how much this must mean to her and remembering himself how many times they’d been separated before. He felt so bad that she still was, in a way.

She pulled back a bit, one hand going through his hair before cupping his chin, as she looked him over. “It’s so wonderful to see you.”

She sounded so much like his mom, but he could tell, tell that it wasn’t his current mom—that she was missing just like this mom’s Henry was. He pulled her back into a hug.

“It’s alright,” she murmured into his hair. “Your mother will be home soon.”

“And you’ll have me back soon too.” His voice was muffled by her shoulder but her tightened grip reassured him that she could hear him just fine. “It’ll be a few more months and then I don’t remember but…”

“Sh, that’s more than I ever hoped for,” Regina replied. “I can wait.” Reluctantly she pulled back, clearly trying to get her emotions under control. “How have you been? Did your mother take good care of you?”

Henry grinned and Emma protested, “Of course I did.”

Regina’s eyes moved to meet Emma’s and crinkled mischievously at the edges, unable to hide how happy she was. It took Emma’s breath away.

“Ma was great. We lived in New York, in this cool apartment,” Henry told her. Launching into an overview of their life in the city, before giving an abbreviated version of life since then. Emma wasn’t sure how much of it Regina was really following, or even listening too, given the happy smile that was still on her face.

Then the sound of an alarm caught Henry’s attention and he quickly silenced his phone with a guilty look.

“Time for babysitting duty?” Emma prompted, knowing Henry didn’t want to leave his mom, not when Regina could barely stop looking at him like he was going to vanish before her eyes.

“Yeah,” Henry said uncomfortably. “But I’m sure Grandma would understand if I came later.”

“Come on, you know she’s counting on you,” Emma said, because they’d been trying to encourage Henry to be more responsible. “And the baby looks forward to playing with you too.”

Henry rolled his eyes at Emma’s phrasing, she told him once he was still ‘kid’ so that meant her brother was the baby. He still thought it was pretty silly—after all babies couldn’t walk and Neal had definitely just learned how to do that. “Neal isn’t a baby anymore.”

“Neal?” Regina asked, clearly confused.

“Emma’s brother Neal,” Henry clarified. “Not my dad.”

“They named their child after _him_?” Regina couldn’t keep the surprise and reproach from her voice.

Emma shrugged in discomfort, but it was Henry who said, “He died, saving his dad.”

“Oh,” Regina looked from Emma to Henry, before settling on her son, knowing Emma tended to not want attention drawn to her when she was feeling emotional. She had no idea how she was supposed to feel about Baelfire’s death. “I’m sorry, Henry.”

“It’s okay,” Henry said with a shrug. “It was a couple years ago.”

Regina still wrapped her arm around his shoulders for a half-hug and after it was over, Henry looked at Emma with faintly pleading eyes. “Are you sure I shouldn’t—”

“You know your grandma is counting on your help with the baby,” Emma replied firmly.

“But—”

“We can handle this, Henry,” Regina said, pulling back and giving him a smile. She could tell Emma was being serious, which was something she rarely saw with the other woman. Besides, if she didn’t let him go now, she wasn’t sure she ever would. “Honestly, it was wonderful to see you again, but I don’t want to interfere with your plans.”

“Alright… If you guys say so,” Henry agreed reluctantly, before engulfing Regina in a big hug. “I love you, mom.”

“I love you too, Henry,” Regina reassured him, trying to keep it together as he left.

“Sorry, about making him go,” Emma said, feeling guilty for the look on Regina’s face. “Besides all the “if you make a commitment you have to follow through” stuff _you_ keep trying to drill into him, my mom really does need his help. With how mobile the baby is, she can’t keep up as well. She’s pregnant again and any sort of fast movement makes her sick.”

“I understand,” Regina said, because she was unfortunately very familiar with a pregnant Snow. “It should go away after the second trimester, if her current pregnancy is to set precedent.”

Emma nodded, “Good to know.”

“I’m going to continue making dinner,” Regina said, needing to distract herself from following after her son.

“I should check in with my parents anyway, let them know the latest and all that.” Emma said, with a roll of her eyes. She’d only told her mom that Henry would be a bit late today although her dad had obviously been aware Regina was missing.

“Of course,” Regina replied with her only slightly more sarcasm than she usually used these days. “Wouldn’t want to leave Snow out of the loop.”

-x-x-x-x-

Emma had come back upstairs from her apartment after making her calls, primarily to keep Regina company in the kitchen and tell her some more Henry stories to pass the time. Overall, it wasn’t too different from how they usually spent their evenings, although Regina was less relaxed and, and settled, than usual. It was actually sort of enlightening to realize how much her Regina had come from even this Regina of a couple years ago.

She was in the middle of a story about Henry’s science fair project, when Regina stiffened. Her eyes swirled with purple magic and she was looking towards the front of the house. “I’m back,” Regina announced. “I can feel my magic. She’s coming here.”

Emma closed her eyes and focused her own magic. Carefully, she felt out with her magical senses and found the same thing. Her shoulders relaxed and she could feel the anxiety that made itself home in her bones since she’d first realized Regina was missing, that had persisted despite past-Regina’s presence and the spells they’d cast earlier, finally leave. “Thank god.”

The front door opened and Emma stood up so quickly that her chair almost fell over.

“Emma!” Regina’s voice called, and even her voice made Emma more sure everything was going to be okay—as there was an imperceptible difference in their voices that Emma couldn’t put her finger on, but could still notice between the current and past Reginas.

“Regina!” Emma replied and caught up to her in the doorway to the kitchen. Emma’s hands landed on her shoulders, as she frantically looked her over, to make sure the other woman was okay. She knew what she had seen, what past-Regina had said, but she always believed in the tangible, what she could touch, even now. “Are you alright? Where the hell have you been?”

“I’m fine, Emma,” Regina soothed, trying to catch Emma’s eyes in order to reassure her. Her hand landed on Emma’s upper arm, which she moved up and down, trying to sooth the other woman. “The spell Zelena and I cast had some side effects we hadn’t been expecting and it took us out of time. We should have only been gone for two hours,” her voice flattened a bit as she continued, displeasure evident in her tone now. “But then I got all of your messages at once and saw the date. I’m sorry for worrying you and Henry. I’m fine, truly.”

Emma sagged where she stood, the knowledge and feel of Regina here, finally settling into her bones. “Yeah? Okay, okay.”

Regina suddenly stiffened, the pull of her magic finally latching onto what had been tugging at her, and looked past Emma to find her past-self sitting on a stool at the counter. “Well,” she said after a few seconds, her voice dry. “That explains why it smells like my lasagna in here.”

“Quite,” past-Regina replied.

“Emma…” current-Regina said slowly, her eyes moving back to Emma’s. “What did you do?”

“I may have tried to summon you back home and instead accidently summoned a past version of you from during the second curse when you were all back in the Enchanted Forest?” Emma offered, bracing herself for Regina’s reaction.

Regina turned to stare at Emma at her explanation before rolling her eyes. “Of course, you did,” she said, amusement evident. “Can’t you do anything simply?”

“Nope,” Emma replied, grinning unrepentant when she realized Regina wasn’t angry.

Regina shook her head and finally let go of Emma, her hand smoothing down her arm one last time, an unconscious gesture that past-Regina followed with intent eyes. “I assume you’ve already seen Henry.”

“Yes,” past-Regina replied. “He had to help Snow with her offspring.” She wrinkled her nose at the idea, as far as she was concerned the other woman had moved on far too quickly in the few months since they’d been gone.

Regina nodded, “Yes.” Her sharp eyes meet past-Regina’s and it was odd to know exactly what the other woman was thinking.

Emma had no idea what the two Reginas were communicating between themselves, but she could tell that they were. It was oddly fascinating to watch.

Past-Regina opened her mouth, “I—” Her eyes darted to Emma and then back to her future counterpart.

“If you’d like to speak in private?” current-Regina offered, gesturing to the living room.

“Yes, I have questions,” past-Regina replied with a decisive nod. Emma wasn’t surprised that for all she’d let Henry and Emma spill whatever they wanted; she’d kept her own questions to herself. This Regina still likely saw it as vulnerability in some form, to even ask about the things she wanted to know about her own life.

Emma felt a pang for how guarded the past version of Regina was. She wasn’t even sure that the other woman kept wrapping her arms around her middle, like she was trying to hold herself together. had she always been so…. raw? Like an exposed nerve? Emma was relieved that her Regina was more confident in Henry and Emma herself, their feelings for her, that she didn’t look so… lonely and brittle. There was a starving look in Regina’s eyes when she spoke to Henry that wasn’t there in her Regina’s eyes.

Present-Regina walked towards the doorway, with past-Regina following only a second or two behind her into the living room. Their voices were low and they stood closely, although not close enough to touch.

Emma tried not to overhear too much, but sounded carried easily in Regina’s house. It seemed past-Regina was attempting to make sense of the confused timeline of events Henry and Emma had alluded too. It really did sound confusing and crazy when she tried to question current-Regina about it. After current Regina finished her overview, past-Regina started to ask more specific questions.

“If it’s…only a few weeks until …. back to Storybrooke. Memory spell causes us to forget…” current Regina was saying.

Past Regina said something that was too quiet for Emma to hear, but she did hear Regina’s reply of “Yes, he didn’t remember us.”

“For how long?” past-Regina’s voice was strained.

There’s a pause as Regina remembered. She shook her head, mouth a grim line. “Too long.”

“Did we really date Robin?” Now its current-Regina’s reply that Emma can’t hear, although she does hear past-Regina follow up with, “Why? He smells like dirt and won’t leave us alone. And Snow keeps trying to imply that…”

Not wanting to hear anything more about Robin, not matter how in the past it is, Emma can’t bear to hear current-Regina explain that Emma had caused her pain, Emma gets up and busies herself getting a cup of water, the sound of the sink running enough to drown out the conversation.

By the time she’s done, the pair are coming back in the room, careful not to brush against each other and discussing something much more technical about magic. It was a little disconcerting, seeing them together like that, speaking in sentence fragments the other seemed to follow instinctively.

Actually, Emma’s brain decided to suddenly give brief life to the idea of two Reginas, their quick mouths and quicker fingers, ganging up on her, anticipating each other’s moves… Emma had to forcibly block out the mental images that creates. She hoped she wasn’t blushing when current-Regina turned to her and said. “Is that right, Emma?”

“Um, yeah, I can’t follow you normally when you talk about spell theory—why would you think I can when you’re having a half conversation with yourself?” Emma said, an incredulous, but indulgent smile on her face. “You guys aren’t making any sense to anyone, but each other right now.”

“Never mind,” current-Regina said with an eyeroll. “I don’t know why I asked anyway.”

“Yeah, yeah. Are you guys all set with your secret conversations?” Emma asked. “Can we start figuring out how to send her home?”

“I already told you,” past-Regina said, more condensing than current-Regina usually was. “Once we make physical contact, I will be sent home. We don’t have to do anything. Honestly, don’t you listen?”

“You’d think so, wouldn’t you?” current-Regina said with a smirk, clearing enjoying her past-self’s attitude, even if it was more obvious she was just giving Emma a hard time for the sake of it.

Emma rolled her eyes, “If you know so much, then let’s see it.”

“So eager to get rid of me,” past-Regina teased, before she sobered slightly. She turned to current-Regina rather reluctantly despite her words, “But it’s probably time now.”

Current-Regina nodded, “With me back in this time, the longer you stay the more likely there will be a magical backlash.”

“Right.” Past Regina seemed reluctant to leave or make the first move though, obviously not wanting leave a time when the future was so settled, when she seemed happy and had everything she never hoped for. Current-Regina’s eyes softened at the way her past-self couldn’t bring herself to move.

Emma watched, fascination in her eyes as the current-Regina moved forward and pulled her past self into a hug. The two seemed to hold the pose for a second or two before the past-Regina dissolved in a white-blue light.

The remaining two women stood in silence in the kitchen for another moment, as if making sure nothing else would happen. Regina rubbed her own forward, eyes unfocused.

It was Emma who broke the silence to say, “Regina, would now be a good time to break out the good stuff?”

Regina pressed her hand to her head, eyes clenched as the memories of her past-self assimilated in. “Definitely."

-x-x-x-x-

Emma took a sip of Regina’s special occasion apple brandy. “Almost makes me want for there to be more narrowly avoided catastrophes,” Emma admitted before laughing when Regina glared at her. She held the hand not holding the glass up in mock surrender. “Kidding, kidding.”

In response, Regina just finished off her own glass and poured another, topping off Emma’s drink when Emma held it out to her. As Regina settled on the other end of the couch, she finally felt herself begin to relax.

Between the discomfort that came with her trip down memory lane with Zelena in an attempt to understand each other better and her guilt when she heard some of Emma’s increasingly frantic voicemails and text when they had finished, it had been a stressful hour. Not to mention the literal, and metaphorical headache, she got when the memories from her past self of today hit her. The displacement from time was also making her magic feel strange, like it wasn’t sitting in her skin correctly. None of this experience was something she wanted to repeat.

Regina sighed lightly as she took another sip. “No more after this,” Regina said, when she caught Emma’s eye. “Henry will be home for dinner in an hour and he’ll not find us drunk on brandy.”

Emma laughed, “Sounds like a plan. You feeling okay? That spell you did with Zelena sounded pretty strong. And you-you aren’t getting any weird side-effects from my summoning gone wrong either, right?”

Regina gave another sigh, but smiled at Emma’s concern, “Really, Emma. I’m fine. My head hurts a bit from the memories I received from my past self, but Zelena and I prepared the other spell properly.” She fixed Emma with a pointed stare, raising her eyebrow, “You see, when you make sure to use proper components, instead of just shoving all your strength into a spell, you tend not to get as many side effects.”

Emma raised her own eyebrow in reply and took another sip of her drink, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh yeah?” Regina challenged, already looking smug. “Then why haven’t you healed that bump on your head from when you hit the wall earlier?”

Emma’s hand automatically went to touch the spot Regina was referring to and tried to hide her flinch. “I…” Emma started, but didn’t finish because Regina was right. She’d put too much of her magic in the summoning spell and wasted whatever she’d had left on the scrying spell with past-Regina, too proud to explain how low her reserves were. Her magic would probably be replenished enough to heal the cut tomorrow morning.

Regina rolled her eyes affectionately, shaking her head lightly, “Just let me.” Regina’s hand reached over to take Emma’s place against her head. In a flash of purple and warmth, the ache was gone.

“Thanks,” Emma said, smiling at Regina. For someone who loved to act like she didn’t care, she sure did jump at the chance to heal Emma whenever she could. She suddenly struck by gratitude for how far Regina has come. How even though they’d been moving towards friendship and partners after Neverland, ast-Regina wouldn’t have healed her, not like this at least: nonchalant and teasing, like it was the easiest, most natural thing in the world.

“It was interesting,” Emma said, almost without meaning to. “To see that version of you again.”

Regina hummed thoughtfully, “It’s strange to have both my impressions of past and future versions in my head. I hadn’t realized the effect of the years had on me—it’d been so long since any timed past.”

Emma scoffed, “Oh please, you looked great then and you look great now.”

Regina smiled at the compliment, one that Emma clearly hadn’t meant to voice given her sudden larger than usual sip of her drink. Emma didn’t take it back though. “I didn’t mean it as a bad thing. It was… gratifying to see that I had…moved forward.” her eyes go a little unfocused as she looked past Emma. “I’d been staying still for so long.”

Emma nodded, her eyes thoughtful. “Yeah, it crazy when you think about how much things have changed.” She pulled her leg up, her blue stripped sock stark against the cream color of the couch as she faces Regina more fully. “But, I don’t know,” she tilted her head to the side.  
“The important parts are still the same, don’t you think?”

Regina’s eyes refocused on the blonde next to her, “I suppose.”

“I guess Neverland is the first time we really started working together,” Emma acknowledged. “After it seemed more straight forward that we’d do that, when we were trying to restore memories.” Emma shook her head again. “I guess it’s hard to remember when we stopped arguing all the time and actually became friends.”

“I needed to move past seeing you as an opponent for Henry’s affection,” Regina admitted. “It wasn’t until Neverland that I realized there was enough room in his life for both of us. And sending you off with those memories was a big step forward. I fully expected to never see either of you again.”

Emma could knew that, she did—remembered the look on Regina’s face when she saw them for the first time, but seeing that past-Regina again refreshed her memory. “I’m still surprised you did.” Regina looked back at her, a question in her eyes. “I don’t know that I could.”

Regina smiled, “Of course you would have—anything for Henry.”

Emma nodded. She finished her glass, setting it down on a coaster on the coffee table and tried to think of a way to move away from the idea having to let Henry go, from Regina’s surety in her as welcome as it was. “It does really hammer home how ridiculous the past few years since have been. God, I don’t know how past-me would have reacted.” She thought about it for a second and laughed, “Definitely not as well as you did.”

Regina let a low chuckle escape, “Trust me, I was not taking at well as it may have seemed. I was more than half-convinced it was all a dream. It seemed so impossible for it to be true. Henry, safe and sound, us all living together like a…” family, she thought, but didn’t finish. “No big threats, no overhanging worry. More than I’d even wished for.”

Emma didn’t know what to say to that, didn’t know how to say that Regina deserved all that and more. Instead, her foot decided to relocate to her mouth as she blurted out the thought she’d been working so hard to ignore. “I’m sorry, I just can’t believe past-you just accepted that we were living together, even though she thought that meant we were dating.” Emma aimed for casual, but she knew she’d missed the mark when Regina stiffened visibly.

“I...” Regina took a deep breath before continuing because she’d made a decision when she’d seen her future self with Emma. She owed her past that much. “I may have had romantic feelings for you. On occasion.”

Emma stared at Regina, mouth agape as she stuttered, “S-since when?”

“On and off since Neverland,” Regina admitted.

“So you’re saying past-you was okay with us being together because she wanted us to be dating?” Emma said with an adorable headtilt, like she couldn’t possibly be saying the right thing and she was waiting for Regina to correct her.

“More or less,” Regina said with a falsely nonchalant shrug. “My feelings were strongest and least, least suppressed, during that missing year—before all talk of pixie dust and soulmates were involved and you and the pirate weren’t… weren’t anything.”

“In the Enchanted Forest,” Regina’s eyes went unfocused. “All I had was daydreaming about you and Henry having a good life, and it was easy to simply fit myself into the life I had given you in New York,” Regina sighed, looking into the fire and remembering how lonely that time had been. How bleak life had seemed when she thought she’d never see either of them ever again.

She swallowed that last of the apple brandy in her glass, “I went to the Falls often, when I couldn’t stand being around peasants who wanted me to constantly use magic to restore the kingdom while also judging me, or being around your nauseatingly pregnant, move on with their lives parents,” Regina scowled as she remembered how easily they had seemed to forget they had a daughter and grandson out in the world. “And then there was Zelena’s absurd jealousy of my painful life and Robin, who I couldn’t seem to make leave me alone.”

“Truthfully, suddenly being home, learning I had Henry and you back in my life, in my home—seemed almost too perfect to be true.” Regina gave a little shrug. “Finding out we weren’t actually together in that manner made everything seem more real. Especially since…” she took a breath and then continued, “since I could tell when I saw myself that I still felt the same.”

Emma was trying to wrap her mind around the idea that Regina may have had feelings for her back then, that her breath caught at Regina’s final words. “You…you do?”

“Yes.” Regina stared into the fire, refusing to look Emma in the eye, refusing to see the rejection she already knew would be in Emma’s face.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Emma asked, sounding a little desperate as her mind swirled.

“I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable,” Regina said, her voice stilted with her own discomfort. “I apologize.”

“Regina. Look at me,” Emma pleaded. Reluctantly, Regina turned her head to meet Emma’s gaze, unsure of what she saw in them. “I am the opposite of uncomfortable.” When Regina just looked confused, Emma leaned in, one hand cupping Regina’s cheek. With only a split-second glance into Regina’s startled eyes, Emma pressed her lips against Regina’s.

There was a frozen moment where they both processed the feeling before their eyes slid shut and they moved instinctively closer, seeking more contact. Regina recovered from her surprise, burying one hand in Emma’s curls, sighing into her mouth at the feel of them in her hands. Her other hand landed on Emma’s bicep, pulling her closer. A nip on Emma’s bottom lip caused her to gasp and allowed Regina to slip her tongue into Emma’s mouth, drawing a moan out of both of them.

Heat and joy raced through Emma’s veins at the feeling of her mouth finally on Regina’s and before she knew it, she’d tugged the other woman closer, closer. Her hand released Regina’s cheek as she drew a breath before diving back in, clutching at Regina’s back and her slipping under her glorious ass. Without conscious thought she let Regina continue to guide their kisses while she focused on maneuvering Regina into her lap.

When Regina’s knees ended up on either side of her hips, she groaned at the feeling. Finally, finally, Regina was exactly where Emma wanted her to be. Now Emma brought her mind back to their kisses, licking into Regina’s mouth in retaliation drawing a delicious low sound form the back of the other woman’s throat.

They broke apart to catch their breaths, panting against each other’s lips. “So does this mean you return my feelings?” Regina asked, her smile knowing, her voice an octave lower than usual.

“What do you think?” Emma replied, sneaking another quick kiss in before pressing open mouthed kisses to Regina’s jaw. She breathed into Regina’s ear after giving it a light nip, “I’ve never felt for anyone what I feel for you, past or present. You’re never gonna get rid of me now.”

“Good,” Regina replied, satisfaction evident in her voice. Her hands stroked through Emma’s hair, tightening her grip because maybe some of her past memories still felt a little too close for comfort. “I don’t plan on letting you go ever again.”


End file.
